To Change the Paradigm

In the midst of any decision or dilemma of conscience we need to be willing to let go of our attachment to old ways of thinking so that we will be able to see NEW with Divine perspective.

#298 To Change the Paradigm Luke 9.59-62Jesus said to another man, “ 'Follow me.' But he said, ‘Permit me first to go and bury my father.’ But he said to him, ‘Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, you go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.' "And another also said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.’But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” Luke 9:59-62Sometimes Jesus makes statements that seem very extreme and outlandish, and they leave us puzzled and pondering the meaning he intends. Imagine telling the Jewish people with their background of the Law of Moses, to drink his blood and eat his flesh. Imagine telling the Jewish man whose religious background and culture required the respect to family and attendance for a week at funeral proceedings that he should let the dead bury the dead.

We are told in Ephesians 5:22-33 that the mutual commitment of Jesus and the church is mirrored in the marriage relationship. Yet Jesus also said, “If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sister, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26 Faithfulness to God and Christ may at times require actions that seem to totally disregard these vital relationships. Truly loving someone close to us with the love of God in Christ may mean taking action that would feel adversarial to us, and that would seem adversarial to the loved one.

Truly loving someone with the love of God and Christ is always for the highest good and we need to pray for guidance to know how to exercise this love. We may need to let go of our old views of what it means to be a husband or wife or mother or father to do the thing that may feel and appear as ‘heartless.’ It may be the will of God out of true love to report a friend or family member to law enforcement, to drug test a teenager, to have one we love committed to a facility so that they can get the help they need.

Someday our obedience to God and Christ may require that we refuse to deny our faith at the expense of the life and physical well being of those we love. To “hate” father, mother, wife, children brothers, sister, and even our own life is Jesus way of taking away the guilt when obedience in Christ may affect those we love in an adverse way. It is easy to take responsibility for things that are not our responsibility. It is the one who sets up the situation is the one responsible. These strange sayings of Christ that seem to negate responsibility to family are really a perspective that gives us the freedom to follow the will of God with a clear conscience, regardless of the cost, though it may break our heart. That being said, we must make sure that any action we take that has an adversarial effect is in fact, obedience to Christ and not obedience to our own thinking.

When Jesus says something that seems outlandish and puzzling, he may be addressing the surrender of our strong ethical and emotional attachment to a certain way of thinking. He is calling for a paradigm shift. The message to us is that even our strongest ideas and impressions need to be surrendered to his truth. Even the ties and pulls of our closest relationships must be surrendered to our relationship with him. Respect for human relationship alone does not determine the actions we take. Respect for human relationships in the light of the will of God in Christ is the issue. He is Lord of all—Lord of every facet of our lives and Lord of every relationship.

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